Tour of Lide Apartment

It is a new beginning  of a new week, I looked from the balcony ,drizzling out of the window, this is the fifth time raining here.

I came to the office, smelling  a fragrance, there are  three pots of beautiful flowers provided by the Japanese Lady who gave the Tea ceremony.She is very nice.

A few minutes later,Jennifer came and took me to the lectures given by Amy to give the Business College Students a presentation on “Strategies for successful interviewing”.She gave us a lively class filled with practical experience and examples.

After lunch, I had a meeting with the Ra of Lide Appartment,Jalysa.She is a senior student,being a RA for three years.There are five buildings in this area, each building has an RA, each two-bedroom apartment houses four students.All apartments are completely furnished and feature a full kitchen ,private bath,living room and carpet.

In the process of her introduction,I can easily feel that she loves Lander very much.And she is proud of to be a RA,she also told me the most important to be a RA is the the ability to cooperate with others.

Time went fast ,It’s time for my Chinese Conversation Class.The students came to class early, and when I walked into the classroom, they use the Chinese to say ‘HELLO’ to me .I’m very happy to hear that and they pronounced well.In this class,we reviewed what we have learned last class,including initial、final、tone、polite expression and class expression。Then,we had a new lesson on ‘Name and Identity’。There a lot of new words 、phrases and text  to learn。So all the students were very diligent and practiced more and more in the class.I hope they can spend a period of  time to practice at home so that they can make progress.

    In my class ,I also have an introduction about Shanghai Normal University and some famous scenic  spot  of Shanghai.

I can feel that all the students are very interested in it and asked me to show more about Chinese Culture next class.

        今天是忙碌的一天，早上听了两个关于日本文化的讲座，听了Jennifer的职业生涯指导课，中午帮忙Tea Ceremony，下午约了Jennifer，专门了解了Lander在学生生涯指导方面所做的工作，所有这些做晚已经是5点15了，再过45分钟，即将开始我的第一节对外汉语课。
         提前10分钟走进教室，学生们都已经做好了，热心负责的Shelley（Continuing Education Department )也特地等在教室，她是专门来看下我的第一节课在设备或者其他方面是否需要她的帮助，等到一切准备就绪，她和我打了招呼便轻轻离开。面对坐在我面前的年龄不等这些外国人，有18岁，有65岁，看得出他们对即将要学的知识很有兴趣。其实我们只有8节课的时间，因此在我的课上，教一些生活用语和介绍一些中国文化，使这里更多的人对中国，对上海、对上海师范大学有一定了解，并能用简单的中文表达自己是我的初衷。Just enjoy yourself!是我一直灌输他们的，因为我要让他们觉得学中文是兴趣，不要有压力。整节课的拼音、课堂基本用于教授下来，他们比我想象的要掌握的快，我一直鼓励他们说响，说错没有关系，他们很给力。为了帮助他们回去复习，我将复习资料发给他们，但是我告诉他们不用占用自己太多时间，把它作为娱乐方式吧。

在教授过程中，我也观察了他们的上课表现，我感觉年龄越大越认真，除了听我讲，还不停地用他们自己的理解方式记笔记，好在我都有中英文对照，因此帮助他们理解比较快。好学的几个学生课后还来问我，我给他们的中文名字拼音怎么写？他们通过今天的拼音学习可以记住中国名字的读法。走的时候所有的人都不约而同地和我说“谢谢，再见！”，感动不仅是因为他们掌握了课上的内容，更是我看到了他们对一个外国人发自内心的尊重和谢意！

        今天是忙碌的一天,一早,和Pam,Dr.Park交流了下本周的安排，开始着手把周三将要上的第一节对外汉语课的教案准备了下，说实话，出乎我的意料，作为Contiuning Education 的一门课，有将近20人来报名，他们有的是本校学生，有的是住在周边的居民，Shelley告诉我，课堂规模已近比较大了，看来，这里的人对中国语言还是比较感兴趣的。不管怎样，我不是语文教师出身，虽然学了7年的课程教学论，但是用在老外身上完全是另外一回事，要把握认为简单但他们觉得难得东西用简单的方式让他们能在短时间掌握，对我而言并非容易，此时，我突然觉得小学语文教师其实很伟大。
         10点，Jennifer准时来接我去参加“学生就业指导课”，今天主要是针对经济管理专业学生课，因为学校所有的学生事务工作全由学校统一管理，学院没有学生事务管理的相关人员，因此，Jennifer作为“就业服务”部门的负责人，她亲自来上课。今天的学生都是本科生，基本是2、3年级，没有写求职信和简历的经验，一次，给他们上的第一堂课就是“how to write an effective resume"整堂课紧凑，师生活动好，不但有理论还有举例，关键是很实用。课后还给了学生"如何写好求职信和简历”的指导手册，并对学生说：“Feel free to contact me any time.".
1个小时的课，让我收获也不少，在听讲的过程中，我也罗列了一些问题请教，于是约了Jennifer周三下午面谈。
         下午，是‘Focus on Japan" 的开幕式，校长不但介绍了对于学校今后的规划，包括校舍等意见，还包括人才引进等软件，亚洲国际交流项目的开拓也是主讲内容之一，很荣幸，作为中国的第一个在Lander的访问学者，我也被再一次介绍给大家。此时，我真的觉得很骄傲。开幕式后进行了”和服show",来自日本的志愿者为我们展示了不同场合不同种类的和服，现场气氛很活跃，或许这是这里的人第一次现场看这样的show.

     有时候，有点感叹，在美国这样一个大学，要举办一个300人左右规模的“日本文化交流周”的开幕式及一系列活动，没有看到有人很忙碌，没有看到人加班，但是却在学校到处可以看到宣传，所有的嘉宾和场地的布置都很到位，学校所有的师生及工作人员都会自觉地正装出席，这是什么？是意识？还是效率？或许这就是不同的文化，活动不在乎有没有观众，这个活动本身吸引人或者大家都把他当成学习的机会也就自然会来了。什么时候我们的讲座如果不能敲卡，如果不需组织也能得到青睐，那说明我们搞得讲座吸引人，也说明我们的学生懂得学习了。

Ice Cream Social

Today,we go to Dr.Ball’s  house for  is Ice Cream Social, everyone invited was excited and thanks for the preparation.There are many studens including some exchange students.

Because of  preparing for the Kimono Show tomorrow ,when we came ,there were a lot of people had already come.

Mrs Ball warmly invited us to eat ice cream ,at the same time, I am also pleased that in today's gathering arranged for me to see the Lander's Host Family - Mo Scott couples. They told me they lived in many parts of the United States, but the favorite is still here, because people here are particularly good! We had e-mail contact before, so when we met today ,feeling very close. I told them they are  my parents in the United States, Ha ha!

        To my surprise, they had arranged for me where they would take me to visit,but they told me it was based on my working schedul.Mo told me that if I am interested, he can take me around the Lander University, a turn over, because he has a plane, but also very professional pilot, and his words are all revealed with excitement.

         I happily accepted his invitation because I am curious .Nancy  is very considerable and asked if I brought a coat and jacket, because the weather here is still relatively cool, and she invited me to shopping a special interest in shopping, which are probably a woman's favorite. They told me “whaever you want to do or whereever you want to do ,please let us know.we're very appreciate to ."It makes me very warmhearted.

        In today's gathering, also met a boy from Zhuhai, , arrived here a month ago, we share a moment in Chinese,and he is the only one I have a face to face with Chinese-speaking person!



        Time flies, two hours had passed, and I helped clean up,went back with Boyoung ! Tomorrow will begin a busy week! Good work! Good life!

A special weekend

Time goes to the weekend, because of the weather changing, I had a cold, after taking the medcine ,feeling much better.

10:00am, Boyoung called me, she told me that Mrs Park has prepared lunch for us, especially some Chinese food, so we went.

Mrs Park burned chicken porridge, fried dumpling, kimchi, are really delicious. I especially like the porridge, and really, as I hope. After lunch, Boyoung and I went to see the film "Contagion" .Maybe the story not be attractive, or taking medication after a meal, I even sleeping in the cinema for 20 minutes, a look at Boyoung, Oh, she sleep soundly.

Lake Greenwood

Out of the cinema, to reward ourselves, we went to the  Starbucks, and then decided to LAKE GREENWOOD  .Today there is no sunlight, coupled with the relatively late when we went to, so there was relatively deserted, but the scenery good, perhaps in the near future we will put forward a picnic here!

Never to shy to ask

Today， Cindy invited me to participate the meeting on Resident Assistant Training Workshop Educantio, this is my first time to take part in one of the division of  the Student Affairs Center.Attending a total of 7 people (including me), summarized the Resident Assistant Training Evaluation from August 19-26.The summary is not simply about good or bad, but give a integrated Evaluation Form and an analysis of each the reason to make a summary of the entire training program and further improvement. I appreciate  the fast-paced, targeted meeting style.

Before the end of the meeting, Cindy asked me what issues need to know more? I probably  asked some question relation to the assistant selection, training, project-specific issues, and whether they can arrang  1-2 student assistants for me to have a look around of the hall.They agreed as soon as possible.

Next week, I have to participate in CAREER SERVICE work. In fact, I’m also trying to adapt themselves to the speed of their speech and communication methods, but found that, in fact, to do homework in advance, there is to "thick-skinned "take the initiative to ask is the best way and the only way to know what you want to know.Vice President RandallBouknight, and Pam has been concerned about my weekly schedule, and then next week, they will arrange for me to STUDENT WELLNESS CENTER, I’m looking  forward to.

To enrich yourself and give yourself a little pressure every day is what  I want to give myself.

my colleagues in my office

Ever since had the  office, Jeff、 Boyoung and I, also get along very harmoniously, although we had come from different home, but destined to work together.

Jeff is a very humorous and family person. He has two daughters, very lovely. He has been working in Lander for 18 years.He worked in the Student  Affairs Department  for student activities before he worked in International Program Department.

      The students liked him, and there are many students see him, whether there is  a problem needs his help or not. He also give warmly give the best help. He told he will go to China on November, but I saw his schedule, unfortunately there is no Shanghai. But I still give him a introduction of the  places he will visit and their approximate position in China. I think his trip to China will certainly promot the relationship between the Lander University and Asia, especially China.

Boyoung, a very independent girl! I always appreciate her smile, he always gave me a lot of help, she was always very pro-active work. Under the influence of Professor Park, she also make her own efforts for the South Korean exchange projects with the Lander. Very pleased, Boyoung knows  a little Chinese, but also quite right, compared to her, I'm not a bit of Korean grow.

I am not alone in USA

        It is the third weekend o the United States , to coincide with Shanghai into a small Mid-Autumn Festival holiday, the first Mid-Autumn Festival away from family, away from friends, and my heart  is an instant burst of sorrow and grief. But let me very warm is that I’m invited to the Korean guest, because this festival is as important as the Korean people.

    In the afternoon, under the leadership of professor  Park, we came to one of their friend's house, a very special house, living in the lake, the scenery is beautiful. Professor Park told me about 10 or so South Korean households living in Greenwood, today's gathering a total of four.

    Time to eat, and everyone sitting around the table, self-service their favorite dishes, talking about all topics of interest. At this point, I thought of my family in Shanghai, the Mid-Autumn Festival, my grandparents, parents, and everyone in my family must be very happy to enjoy the delicious cuisine. That morning I telephoned the family, everyone over the phone and I said a few words, although this is not surprising in the usual care, but today, I feel particular weight. Fortunately,before I came to America, we eat dinner with moon cake, can be considered a holiday in advance.

Particularly delicious BBQ for dinner today, I ate two, then seems to forget the "weight loss", who cares, this is always a tomorrow thing. After dinner,I have a chat with  Professor Park in the garden , he asked me the feeling of Americans, in Lander ,everyone is nice. He told me that I am the chinese who he met favorite of the American food, in fact, he did not know, because I can not cook well, ah! But honestly, I really feel good meals here.

    Today we celebrate the birthday of the main people, homemade cake is very attractive, happy with, we also sang karaoke .

Time flies, it was  already 10 o’clock, Park returned to my  apartment.Along the way, there is still great interest today, rich and delicious memorable meals.

I just want to say, in the United States, I never feel alone!

My first class in Lander

    Today is  September 6th,Tuesday,I attend Montessori taught by  Barbare Ervin,Director of Montessori Program. First of all,Ervin introduced herself and let us make self-intruduction. 
    After the self-introduction，Ervin tell us some important details about Montessori Course.I get the syllabus,and I think it useful for me to get a general idea about the course ,to prepare my assignment well.

    During the class,Ervin introduce Montessori to us ,such as when was she born and from?how did she apply to medical school?how did she do some research?and how did she dedicate herself to education?and some highlights of he career,etc.Then ,the vidio named "nurturing the love of learning" impressed me.It described that the Montessori method is bases upon the child's natural desire to learn.This method stresses active,hands-on learning in a prepared classroom environment that contains attractive and carefully sequenced materials.

         I'm the lucky one because Lander is the only institution of higher learning in South Carolina to offer a program leading to national certification in Montessori education. AndWith a longstanding tradition of producing talented teachers, Lander’s Department of Teacher Education focuses on empowering and encouraging students to become not only competent professionals, but also lifelong learners and responsible citizens.